a bleeding purple utah jazz blog

The Mailman continues to deliver…

…awesome interviews that give me something to write about during the summer.

A lot of the things Karl said in this interview with CBS Houston’s Vandemeer and Lopez was stuff we’ve heard before, especially in the interviews he’s done since Jerry retired (mainly because people keep asking him the same questions). They don’t get old for me, though.

BBJ from SLC Dunk said that the Oscar Robertson interview yesterday had a very “get off my lawn” feel. This, in parts, does too. Probably because I’m creeping up towards “get off my lawn” age and I find myself agreeing with everything old guys say and missing the old days when players were allowed contact with one another without a cacophony of whistles going off. Anyway, on to the good stuff.

** “I was a nice guy. Not when I played though.”

**[What do you make of what went down in Utah this year with Jerry Sloan and Deron Williams?] You talk about a guy like Coach Sloan who played the game and did it the right way, with respect, and then for it to come down like that…it seems like they just picked between one or the other. And it seemed like they picked Deron…and then maybe a week or two before the trade deadline, they get rid of Deron…

Coach Sloan, I love him to death. It’s not too many people that can call me and say, “Karl, I need you” and I say, “Where you at? I’m on the way.” He’s that kind of guy. He’s a great guy…they got some young guys in return [for Deron], but it just seem to me now that we took a little bit of a step back.

Love the way Karl is still defending Jerry, and love how he refers to the Jazz as “we.”

**In response to a question on whether he thinks Phil Jackass is done: “You can ‘retire’ for a year or two now and come back. Retirement to me is one of them things, all due respect to the fans that followed you and you can’t [tug] on their heartstring. When you announce your retirement, just retire and be done with it.”

*applause*

**In regards to a remark from the interviewer about how Kobe was bitching about how he was hurt and couldn’t practice, and his teammates felt like they could take time off because he wasn’t there waaaaah waaaaah waaaaah:Karl: Aren’t you guys tired of guys telling you their injury lists?Interviewer: YES! I’m glad you said that.Karl continues in a whiny, sobby voice: “Hey look, look, oh gosh, he was on an IV, and he, he was on fluids, and oh God, he just willing his team to win!” Think about it. That ain’t no damn hero…I hate when somebody say, “They’re just warriors!”…look at our military, look at our police officers. Those are warriors. So stop using that phrase and nobody care if you’re hurt and sick. You gotta come in to work if you’re not feeling well and everybody else do too.

No surprise he feels this way given the way he and Stock told injury to suck it.

**Power forwards he likes to watch: I really love Blake Griffin…I like Dirk…Millsap in Utah, of course I gotta throw one of them in there. I like watching Scola play.